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Back then on November 9, 1993 I was 19 years old and bought both albums on CD at Tower Records @ Midnight on Monday night. I anticipated both albums, but I anticipated the Wu-Tang album more... and liked it more, back then. I immediately loved the Tribe album as well, but the impact the Wu-Tang Clan had and with it bein somethin brand new, I was more about that shit. But over the years since they came out, I've shifted to the Midnight Marauders album and that's how I feel now and have felt for years now.

And I like everything Drewhuge said and agree 100%.

Originally Posted by Drewhuge

I'm definitely in the tribe camp. The Wu was a game changer, an awesome LP that changed much of hip-hop, so undeniably more influential than the tribe. As far as Tribe, you could see it as just another in a line of 3 classics, more of the same goodness with a slightly different approach. However, I play it way more than the Wu - which was outshone by Raekwon's solo debut, (which is a better LP) and I don't feel it's aged in the way elements of the Wu album have. track for track, MM is better. In terms of cultural impact, Wu.

The garden of England, where all the flowers grow & people like me suffer from Hayfever!!

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Originally Posted by checkoutwax

You really have unique taste Dise, your comments constantly go against the grain! Which is fine of course but you really do surprise me time and time again! OB4CL and Liquid Swords in my books are bonafide classics and totally restored my faith in the Wu but that faith disappeared not too long after those were released.

Don't get me wrong I do really like OB4CL & LS, but for some reason Meths LP was more my preference, LS was probably the LP that got played second most, and then OB4CL, maybe it was because they were released in that order? I'm not sure or maybe it's because I'm more entrenched in 80's Hip Hop over the 90's, or because at the point of their Solo LP's, my music tastes were wandering at this point, or because I was 21 at the time of the WU LP so I was probably a bit older than most when those LP's came out or lastly as I told Slick the other day, I never knew any other people into the same music personally until meeting Slick, 5/6 years ago, so all through the 80's / 90's I came to my own conclusions without other peoples input.
The thing is I can't give a full reason why I like what I like, but I do know what I like, obviously I'm happy to give other records a chance, but if they don't do it for me, then that's that, and beside this place would be boring if we all liked the same.

As Drew mentioned the Wu changed the game completely with their solo album. It was strictly Wu fever afterwards and i was gasping for any Wu related that was released for a few years after. With the Tribe, they had brought their unique & strong vibe years before with Peoples & completely solidified it with The Low End Theory......Midnight Marauders was the icing on the cake and a stone cold classic aswell.

It is a hard one to pick but I am going to go with Midnight Marauders purely as I have listened to it much more over the years. When i think of the Wu Tang i think of an almost over hyped up group with many average releases. The Wu's follow up album was very disappointing. I loved 36 Chambers and the 1st few solo albums (genius, meth, cuban linx, odb) but don't rate them as highly as the Tribe.

I'd probably have to go the other way here, Meth's LP is probably the LP that I played the most, I did get Rae's & GZA's LP's but neither got played a great deal in comparison, although I haven't played it in a long, so I may have to revisit it.

Thats pretty much where i stood as well. I was totally unaware that ppl didn't like Meth's first lp. All i knew is when i heard "Release Yo Delph" and those horns.. I was sold immediately. I'm very particular in my taste and even though Wu had an image, I was all about the music end of things. If the right kinda music was happening under the vocals.. i was all about it. It was cool to have stripped down beats and all that, but i love a good melody on a tune. And Meth's album was full of dark melodies that hit my ear the right way much more than Rae and GZA's solo LP's. I probably couldn't recite a single lyric on Meth's "Stimulation" but i've heard it 1000 times and still enjoy it for the overall mood & melody of the song.

I also never realised Meth's debut was not that welcomed. I liked quite a lot of that album - only a few were skipped when listening.

Like someone mentioned earlier I lived in my own hip hop bubble in my early 20's so never had anyone to speak to or deliberate these things. I probably assumed every hip hop fan in world loved every single Def Jam release back then.

Tribe vs Wu - 1st 6 weeks would have been Tribe, the Wu grew more and more and more as they got more AirPlay. Wu win here. Love both Lp's.

I think the thing with the Meth is that his solo album was the most anticipated at the time - he'd really shone on 36 Chambers, everyone dug the Method Man track, he seemed one of the more interesting characters. But when Tical dropped - and despite it having some really, reallly good stuff on there - Bring the Pain, Meth vs. Chef, All I Need, What the bloodclot - it doesn't live up to the hype. Plus the sound quality on the vinyl is (deliberately?) bad. it always felt like a bunch of really good tracks, a few disappointing but not terrible ones, and not a cohesive album. Whereas I didn't expect ODB to be able to drop a dope album. As Dise said, each to his own, but 'Return...' is an established classic in a way Tical most certainly isn't. Weird, really, because it's even more messy.
By way of contrast, the Raekwon is really cohesive and I think took people by surprise.

The garden of England, where all the flowers grow & people like me suffer from Hayfever!!

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I've dug out Meths and GZA CD's can't bloody find my Rae CD at the mo, but on relisten I would now concede that Meth's CD hasn't held up aswell GZA's so currently GZA's my fave. Once I find my Rae's CD I'll re-evaluate again.

Sound quality wise wasn't an issue for me as I bought the solo LP's on CD.